MY DOCTOR'S VISIT

A friendly introduction to the annual medical checkup for little ones.

In one to two second-person paragraphs per double-page spread, the chatty narration describes the various tests doctors perform while indicating the body part each is meant to examine. Simple diagrams appear against white backgrounds to illustrate the concepts and feature faceless silhouettes of toddler bodies in a variety of skin tones accompanied by simple representations of internal organs. Medical instruments, such as a stethoscope and a sphygmomanometer (or blood-pressure cuff), float among the text and diagrams, sometimes commenting on the narration in the fashion of a Greek chorus. Several of these instruments and a good number of the internal organs, like the heart and lungs, have googly eyes, expressive eyebrows, and cutesy mouths. Presumably this is intended to give this fictional visit to the doctor a lighthearted air, but the device could be confusing to literal-minded youngsters. The spread on vaccines (a representative virus particle within the serum also has googly eyes, plus a superhero cape) reassuringly states that: “Most vaccines are shots, so it might hurt a little, but only for a second. Take a deep breath and know you are brave for keeping your body safe!” While this offering doesn’t show the actual doctors, waiting rooms, or examination tables that most going-to-the-doctor books include, it does provide answers to many of the “why” questions older toddlers and preschoolers express.

Googly eyes aside, an upbeat, science-based primer of human anatomy.